World War II introduced into reality a brutality that marked a deep change in the idea of memory and of preservation as well: before that was quite difficult to imagine how it would have dis- figured the face of German cities. In West Germany, Bavaria develops since 1945 a specific way of reconstruction, showing a constant balance between innovation and tradition: the works of the architect Josef Wiedemann (1910-2001) in the historic centre of Munich represents a considerable example. The architect is responsible for the reconstruction of some significant buildings in Munich, addressing them as a fundamental theme in the history and identity of the Bavarian people, but above all as an opportunity to define a method of intervention on the ruins of war. Wiedemann is inspired by the teaching of Hans Döllgast and he tracks a new original way marked by a deep capacity for technical planning and an attention to the requirements to be observed in contemporary architecture. Starting from his writings and his architectural works, one can detect a coherent way of intervention, starting from the knowledge of the building’s history, tracing the evolution from the “original” state to the one of ruin, developing a project which produces a synthesis between the past and the future. The architect, in the vision of Wiedemann, is called to a task of great responsibility, which means to project an intervention on a building that shows the signs of its travel through time, especially through war. Four case studies selected among the works of reconstruction of the architect demonstrate his operating method: the Odeon (1951-1952), a work of Leo von Klenze, in which the re-composition of the courtyard embodies the synthesis of the “living preservation” concept; the Alte Akademie (1951-1955), a building to- tally damaged where the architect investigates the opportunity of copying an ancient destructed building; the Siegestor (1956-1958), a neoclassical urban gate which is re-interpreted as a peace memorial; the Glyptothek (1961-1972), his last Wiederaufbau, a museum where the lives of the building are recognizable “listening” to the matter. In particular, these works of restoration are expressions of the material culture that seems to characterize the work of Wiedemann in relation to the theme of ruins and their almost physical «aura», that could not be divided from its material manifestation. In the method that will be progressively carried out working on the “body” of the monuments wounded by the war, is perceptible the interest and influence of the Italian debate on restoration. Wiedemann fixes some principles: the restoration project is focused on the present, the connecting point between past and future, and in the research for a dialogue with the ancient part, that go along with its construction techniques and its becoming through time. As he states in his speech Goldener Saal «Every work of art is an expression of its time, so the critics are right – but this also includes the preservation of monuments»1. The project finds solutions step by step, making the architecture congenial to the changing needs, setting a new balance between breakup and continuity, old and new, tradition and innovation, as Wiedemann would say a “living preservation” of heritage. The investigation on Wiedemann’s work of reconstruction could be a key for interpreting the actual debate in Germany, which continues to have a great importance on the one hand for the theoretical thinking on restoration, on the other, for the idea of preservation of heritage. The coexistence of old and new is a cornerstone of the work of Hans Döllgast first and of Josef Wiedemann then and it returns in some recent works on the ruins of World War II in Germany, which take as reference the post-war experiences of the Federal Republic, i.e. the reconstruction of the Neues Museum (2003-2009) by David Chipperfield in Berlin and that of St. Kolumba (2003-2007) by Peter Zumthor in Cologne.
Josef Wiedemann (1910-2001), architetto nato e attivo a Monaco di Baviera, attraverso le sue opere di ricostruzione, definisce nel corso del secondo dopoguerra un metodo operativo che emerge nel panorama della Wiedeaufbau tedesca, avendo sempre chiaro l’obiettivo di restituire gli edifici alla città come architetture “narranti”. Professore dal 1955 di Denkmalpflege und Sakralbauten alla Technische Hochschule München, alla professione intreccia la carriera accademica. Nel volume quattro casi scelti tracciano il paradigma del suo intervento sui monumenti feriti dalla guerra: Odeon, Alte Akademie, Siegestor e Glyptothek. La sua chiave interpretativa, nel segno del suo maestro Hans Döllgast (1891-1974), lo porta a mettere a punto un metodo progettuale che intende lasciare decifrabili le diverse “vite” dell'edificio: il monumento prima della guerra; la condizione di rovina dopo i bombardamenti; l’opera restaurata, che rinasce come architettura del proprio tempo. Una conservazione “viva” dell’esistente.
Wiederaufbau: Josef Wiedemann e la conservazione viva dell’esistente
Signorelli Leila
2019
Abstract
World War II introduced into reality a brutality that marked a deep change in the idea of memory and of preservation as well: before that was quite difficult to imagine how it would have dis- figured the face of German cities. In West Germany, Bavaria develops since 1945 a specific way of reconstruction, showing a constant balance between innovation and tradition: the works of the architect Josef Wiedemann (1910-2001) in the historic centre of Munich represents a considerable example. The architect is responsible for the reconstruction of some significant buildings in Munich, addressing them as a fundamental theme in the history and identity of the Bavarian people, but above all as an opportunity to define a method of intervention on the ruins of war. Wiedemann is inspired by the teaching of Hans Döllgast and he tracks a new original way marked by a deep capacity for technical planning and an attention to the requirements to be observed in contemporary architecture. Starting from his writings and his architectural works, one can detect a coherent way of intervention, starting from the knowledge of the building’s history, tracing the evolution from the “original” state to the one of ruin, developing a project which produces a synthesis between the past and the future. The architect, in the vision of Wiedemann, is called to a task of great responsibility, which means to project an intervention on a building that shows the signs of its travel through time, especially through war. Four case studies selected among the works of reconstruction of the architect demonstrate his operating method: the Odeon (1951-1952), a work of Leo von Klenze, in which the re-composition of the courtyard embodies the synthesis of the “living preservation” concept; the Alte Akademie (1951-1955), a building to- tally damaged where the architect investigates the opportunity of copying an ancient destructed building; the Siegestor (1956-1958), a neoclassical urban gate which is re-interpreted as a peace memorial; the Glyptothek (1961-1972), his last Wiederaufbau, a museum where the lives of the building are recognizable “listening” to the matter. In particular, these works of restoration are expressions of the material culture that seems to characterize the work of Wiedemann in relation to the theme of ruins and their almost physical «aura», that could not be divided from its material manifestation. In the method that will be progressively carried out working on the “body” of the monuments wounded by the war, is perceptible the interest and influence of the Italian debate on restoration. Wiedemann fixes some principles: the restoration project is focused on the present, the connecting point between past and future, and in the research for a dialogue with the ancient part, that go along with its construction techniques and its becoming through time. As he states in his speech Goldener Saal «Every work of art is an expression of its time, so the critics are right – but this also includes the preservation of monuments»1. The project finds solutions step by step, making the architecture congenial to the changing needs, setting a new balance between breakup and continuity, old and new, tradition and innovation, as Wiedemann would say a “living preservation” of heritage. The investigation on Wiedemann’s work of reconstruction could be a key for interpreting the actual debate in Germany, which continues to have a great importance on the one hand for the theoretical thinking on restoration, on the other, for the idea of preservation of heritage. The coexistence of old and new is a cornerstone of the work of Hans Döllgast first and of Josef Wiedemann then and it returns in some recent works on the ruins of World War II in Germany, which take as reference the post-war experiences of the Federal Republic, i.e. the reconstruction of the Neues Museum (2003-2009) by David Chipperfield in Berlin and that of St. Kolumba (2003-2007) by Peter Zumthor in Cologne.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
